Silent Harmony
by tsukikitty
Summary: When they had left for the mission, they weren't exactly what you would've called "close." When they returned, however, the new bonds they shared were unbreakable. NejixTen and Sasuke making friends and not being a jerk; everybody wins! Oneshot.


my first fanfic here! squee! it's NejixTen, my favorite pairing. please review!  
sorry if Sasuke seems very OOC. i tried to imagine what he would be like around other people after he had established his friendship with Naruto. :I

Disclaimer: i don't own Naruto. really now, be logical.

**Silent Harmony**

"Ugh, where could he be?"

Tenten and Sasuke were standing just outside of the Konoha village gates. They, along with Neji Hyuuga, had been assigned a two day C-rank mission, and the latter was late. Sasuke was leaning against the wall, his arms folded over his chest, with his eyes half closed. Tenten, however, was pacing back and forth, almost frantically.

"We've been waiting for almost an hour! And Neji…well, Neji's _never_ late. If anything, he always makes sure to be early!" Tenten really was worried. She had been on a team with Neji for two years now, and never once had he been late to anything in that time.

"You like him, don't you?"

'_Wha--?!'_

She whipped around to see Sasuke, still leaning against the wall, smirking at her. She was a bit taken aback; after all, every time she had interacted with Sasuke in the past (which was about twice, now that she thought about it), he had been so serious and quiet, barely saying a word unless he was arguing with Naruto. And yet, here he was, accusing her of liking her teammate and giving her a look that said, "You know I'm right."

"What did you say?!"

"You heard me. I asked if you have a thing for Neji."

"Well, I don't."

"I think you're _lying_."

"I'm not! I don't like him!" _'Well, I do,'_ she thought, _'but I'll never tell _him_ that…'_

"You do."

"Do not."

"Do."

Before she could protest again, Sasuke made a noise that indicated the arrival of the Hyuuga in question. Sure enough, she turned to see Neji walking towards them, a kind of…_smile_ on his face?! No…she must have been imagining it. When he reached them he said simply, "Sorry to keep you two waiting. Let's go."

Used to this kind of treatment by now, Tenten let it go and decided to ask him about it later.

With that, the three started down the path leaving the village, Neji walking in front with Sasuke and Tenten following behind.

**oOo**

It was uncomfortably silent for a while as they made their way down the path. _'Jeez,'_ Tenten thought, _'if it's going to be like this the whole time, I think I might go insane…'_ Presently, her thoughts were interrupted by Sasuke, who was walking next to her.

"You. Like. Him."

Oh no. Not this again.

She wasn't really worried about Neji hearing, since he was walking quite a ways ahead of them, but she really didn't want to get into this again.

"_No_, I don't."

"_Yes_, I you do."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"_Yes._"

"ARGH! FOR THE LAST TIME, I DON'T LIKE— " Upon seeing Both Neji and Sasuke stop and look at her, she realized what she was doing and quickly improvised.

"…o-oranges! They're just not my thing, okay?"

'_Oranges? Of all things, _oranges_?'_ Well, at least she had saved herself. Neji just gave her a weird look and then continued walking. Tenten looked over to see Sasuke repressing a laugh and glared at him. She decided that that had been a good way to end their little conversation, and sped up to walk with Neji instead.

"So…" she looked at him to make sure that he was listening, which she thought he was, and continued, "Neji, what were you doing before you met Sasuke and me at the gate? You looked…well, I'm not really sure, but I thought you looked pretty happy."

"Hn."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Neji, come on. Will it kill you just to tell me where you were?"

"I had some things to take care of."

Knowing that she wouldn't get any more of an answer than that, she accepted defeat and said nothing more.

**oOo**

Luckily for her, they were almost to their destination anyway. They reached the town at about four-o'-clock in the afternoon.

The mission was simple: the three of them had to go undercover and steal an old book. It had been decided that since Sasuke was the fastest he would slip into the back room of the bookstore and find the book while Neji and Tenten distracted the shopkeeper. Once Sasuke found the book, he would purposely knock something over to get their attention, and before the shopkeeper noticed, they would knock him out. Their plan ended up working perfectly. The old man had had guards, though, which was unexpected, but they were easily taken care of.

They finished up right as it was getting dark and found a place just outside of the town to camp out.

Sasuke was reading a book on old taijutsu techniques that Kakashi had lent him (it was "borrowed" from Gai, of course, but Sasuke didn't know that), Tenten was cleaning her weapons, and Neji was meditating.

_Clink._

_Clink._

_Clang._

_Clink._

Suddenly, Tenten looked at Neji worriedly. She knew how he liked it perfectly quiet when he meditated, and she just now noticed how much noise she was making.

"Neji, I'm sorry…am I distracting you? I can stop, if you want…"

Neji, his eyes still closed, shook his head slightly.

"No, it's fine. It's actually kind of calming…"

For whatever reason, this made Tenten blush. She knew that Sasuke had seen it when she heard him chuckle softly. When they made eye contact she mouthed at him to shut up, and he did, for the most part.

It was about eleven when they all decided to go to sleep. Sasuke seemed tired and dozed off almost immediately, but Tenten couldn't get to sleep. Her mind kept reverting back to Neji.

She glanced at him involuntarily and he, to her surprise, met her gaze.

"Tenten…do you still want to know why I was late this morning?"

"Well…yeah…"

Neji sat up in his sleeping bag and reached for the bandages that were always wrapped around his forehead. Tenten knew by now that underneath was the mark…the horrible curse that the Hyuugas had laid upon him. It angered her just thinking about it.

He began to unravel them slowly, and Tenten began wondering what in the world he was going to show her.

As he pulled off the last of the bandages, she gasped.

"It…it's gone…!"

Neji looked up at the sky. It was a perfectly clear night, and every star was shining brightly.

"Yes…it's gone. It's finally gone…"

He looked back at her, and his perfect, pale eyes met her teary chocolate ones. He was smiling – genuinely smiling – for the first time in years. In all the time that Tenten had known him, she had never seen him smile like that.

"Neji…" Tears were rolling down her face now, and honestly, she didn't know quite why.

"Neji, you shouldn't have come on the mission! I mean, you should have stayed in the village and…and…celebrated or something! You shouldn't have to be here right now…I can't even imagine what it feels like…It must be so wonderful…" She quickly looked at the ground, wondering whether or not she should've burst out like that.

"I came because I wanted to show you."

Tenten looked up to meet his eyes again. He was still smiling…such a warm, kind, gentle smile…

She felt a deep blush creep across her face and had the urge to look away from him, but she found that she couldn't pull away from his gaze.

"I…Neji…thank you."

"…For what?"

"For everything! You…you've always been there for me. _Always_. And I've never really thanked you for it, even though by now I should have a hundred times over…so…"

She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled again.

"Thank you."

They looked at each other for what felt like ages, sitting there under the sparkling night sky.

It was as if they had both just said, "I love you." Each knew that the other had gotten the message, and now they just sat there, silently loving each other under the light of the stars.

Finally they agreed to go to sleep, and both drifted off as soon as their heads touched their sleeping bags, their minds filled with thoughts of love and happiness, and smiles still spread across their faces.

**oOo**

The next morning everyone awoke early, hoping to get to the village as soon as possible. The three of them packed and readied for the journey without saying a word, but smiling glances were stolen between them every now and then.

"Love." That was the first thing out of Sasuke's mouth as they started down the path.

Neji and Tenten both stopped dead in their tracks. _'Did he just…?!'_

Sasuke turned around, looking surprised. "I said, 'It's a lovely day.' Is something wrong…?"

'_Phew…'_

"No, nothing. Just…didn't hear you right." Tenten smiled sheepishly and she and Neji kept walking.

"Then again, what else can you expect from such a _lovely_ night? It was so clear and beautiful last night…perfect to confess your love to someone…"

He stopped to look back at his companions, smirking when he saw that they were standing in the middle of the path a good ways behind him.

"What…?"

"You mean you were awake the whole time?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke replied with an even bigger smirk. He then kept walking, leaving Neji and Tenten dumbfounded.

"Sasuke, you're such a jerk!"

He just laughed. Even though his back was turned, he could tell that Tenten and Neji were both smiling.

The rest of the trip was filled with laughter and joking, and the three of them knew that they had all grown a lot closer in the past two days. It felt so…_good_.

When they got back to Konoha, people had to wonder what had happened on their mission. Suddenly, the three most unlikely people (in most peoples' opinions) were together constantly…_inseparable_. Of course, the three never really talked about it to anyone; they were perfectly fine just keeping it between themselves. No one really knew how Neji Hyuuga and Tenten had suddenly become a couple (though they didn't like to flaunt it much), or how Sasuke Uchiha had suddenly loosened up and become best friends with them.

They liked keeping it their secret.

Silent harmony.

**oOo**

thanks for reading! i hope you enjoyed it!

to those who reviewed, thanks so much! w


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